HONG KONG
A Hong Kong court sentenced activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung to 10 years in prison Thursday after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with “foreign forces.”
Wong, who is already serving a prison sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion, pleaded guilty in the second case in September this year.
He has been sentenced for “his role in a global campaign to instigate sanctions against mainland China and the city in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-government protests,” the South China Morning Post reported.
Wong was convicted for conspiring with fugitive former lawmaker Nathan Law Kwun-chung and other activists to “collude with foreign forces after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong on June 30, 2020.”
He will concurrently serve the new prison term with his previous sentence, which expires on Jan. 7, meaning Wong’s expected release date has been pushed back to late 2036, the report said.
Justice William Tam Yiu-ho ruled that Wong and his associates “exploited their connections with top overseas officials and institutions to promote foreign interference on social media and through prominent news agencies in the West.”
“The sanctions and hostile acts advocated by the activists could lead to highly detrimental and adverse consequences to Hong Kong and mainland China,” the judge said.
Hong Kong was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019 before China imposed a national security law in 2020 in the semi-autonomous region.
